Canterbury based Rallycross driver Tristan Ovenden headed north to Croft in North Yorkshire for the season opener of the Toyo Tires MSA British Rallycross Championship on Sunday.

It would be the first proper race test for the Goody Demolition backed driver in his newly acquired Renault Clio V6.

The first qualifying heats saw Ovenden start from the rear of the grid, but superb start saw him rocket to first place ahead of the pack by the time they had reached the first corner. He was fastest by nearly a second.

In Qualifying two yet another floorless start saw him lead into the first turn again, but an uncharacteristic mistake on the penultimate lap saw him slip to third spot. In the final qualifying heats set didn’t put a foot wrong and drove back into the top spot recording the fastest Supernational time of the day in the process.

Ovenden lined up for his semi-final in pole position he drove the Renault to third place due to overheating issues and qualified for the coveted final and a second row place on the grid as a result. Unfortunately for Ovenden the car continued to overheat while the cars were positioned on the grid for the final. As a result, it stalled right at the time the lights went green! The Kent driver managed to get going and clawed back a couple of places eventually securing sixth place over all.

The championship now moves on to the second round and Scott’s home event when it visits Lydden Hill in Kent for the first of two visits in Rallycrosses 50th birthday year. Racing is on the Easter weekend Monday starting at 9:00am.

Speaking after the weekend,Ovenden said: “Very frustrating as the car performed perfectly all day during qualifying but then developed an overheating problem just when we were ready to push for the victory. After the finish line its boiled up and pushed all the water out, so there’s something for us to look into there before the next round at our home circuit of Lydden.”

Images courtesy of Matt Bristow